Cruise Liner Queen Mary 2 Arrives in New York Harbor, in All Its Majesty, Bulk.

Byline: Leslie Brody

Apr. 23--Picture a posh resort longer than Giants Stadium -- wait, make that one and a half Giants Stadiums -- splashing through the ocean waves.

Now see it gliding out of the early morning mist and under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge with little space to spare.

The Queen Mary 2 steamed into New York Harbor for the first time Thursday, welcomed by fireboats spraying red, white, and blue fountains and a thunderous "God Save the Queen" from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy band. Smiling passengers waved little American flags from the decks in return.

Cunard's new flagship left thousands of spectators along the Hudson River gaping, and many excited passengers recounting tales of a great time -- albeit with queasy stomachs -- on the storm-tossed voyage across the North Atlantic. Some on board who played a racing game with wooden horses gave the winner a telling name: "Seasick Biscuit."

"Thank God for the patch!" exclaimed Jennifer Jennings, 38, who put one behind her ear to ward off motion sickness. After one particularly wild wave, she said, "I almost got tossed out of the shower. People looked like they were drunk" when they walked.

The Queen Mary 2 has been hailed as the largest and most lavish ocean liner ever built. At $800 million, it cost almost double the gross domestic product of Grenada. If stood on one end, it would be the second-tallest structure in the Manhattan skyline -- just shorter than the Empire State Building.